


After You

by theoneandonlylittlebird



Series: After You Verse [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-19
Updated: 2016-05-19
Packaged: 2018-06-09 12:12:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6906562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theoneandonlylittlebird/pseuds/theoneandonlylittlebird
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rumple needs to remember to use the closed sign and lock the door. Emma finds out the hard way. For #Rumbelle is Hope. Assumes knowledge of Once through 5X21.</p>
            </blockquote>





	After You

The screams drowned out the otherwise polite jingle of the bell above the pawn shop's door. Infant screams. 

The cacophony obliterated the click of Emma Swan's stylish knee highs on the hardwood as well. Her eardrums protested. The sheriff stopped in front of the behemoth of an antique cash register and took a deep breath. She gripped one wrist in front of her to wait. Emma focused on the warmth of the skin beneath her fingers, the feel of air moving in and out of her nose, the comforting snugness of her boots and jacket, anything to distract from the grating irritation of the tiny tirade blaring from the next room.

The infant bellowed, shrieked, wailed and howled. Continuously. For ten minutes. Then Emma heard adult sobbing begin and a muffled masculine voice trying to sound comforting around the strain. Emma's eyes strayed toward the normally closed curtain separating store from office. It looked as if it had been hastily tossed open. Her cellphone was out and in her hand before she could make herself not look at it. She stuffed it back in her pocket.

If it was not so urgent, Emma would have left. But Henry had been writing non-stop since breakfast and between clenched teeth had asked her to go get his grandpa; no, the other one. That left her standing in her least favorite establishment in Storybrooke wondering why Regina could not have been the one to go fetch Gold.

The ear splitting caterwauling continued apace.

Emma looked again toward the open curtain. This really could not wait. It truly was dire, the implications staggering.

A step beyond the counter, Emma could see the tableau in all its domestic glory and stopped short of the curtain's threshold. 

There were all manner of pillows, baby blankets, burp clothes, pacifiers, tiny socks, diapers -both dirty and clean to Emma's chagrin- wipes, stuffed animals and wear-your-baby gear scattered around like a ToysRBaby bomb had gone off seconds before her arrival. The pastel carnage, in fact, coated every available surface. Drawn like Icarus to the sun, Emma's eyes found the epicenter of the scene: beet-red and squalling with stiff little limbs thrashing every which way, Baby-Gold turned her face in every direction except the offered breast.

Gold himself was on his knees in front of the cot where his wife vainly tried to wrestle the baby in one arm and hold her breast with her free hand. There was a dark pile off to the side which probably consisted of what was left of Gold's suit jacket and his waistcoat sported a liberal splotch of what appeared to be baby puke. It was not going well. Gold was trying to get Belle to actually grasp the back of Baby-Gold's head to contain her while Baby-Gold escaped being held under Belle's arm and kicked the pillow-like thingy on Belle's lap to the floor. Gold caught his daughter by her diaper and extracted her from his wife's arms.

Poor Belle cried harder.

"Belle, sweetheart," Gold said softly, "I don't care what the lactation consultant said, a stressed newborn can't feed. We need to wrap her up so she can calm down."

"But she'll just fall asleep again!" Belle protested.

"That's hardly a worry just now." It was a statement of fact, not a jab.

Emma went still as Gold took a step toward her, but he only set Baby-Gold on the bed, totally focused on the task at hand: Operation Baby Chow. The man was deft and gentle with his newborn, she had to admit. He tucked her limbs into the blanket and swaddled her as if he had done it a thousand times before. He had, of course. With Neal, or Baelfire as he had been then. Emma swallowed hard and her eyes stung for a second: the discomfort in her chest would pass, it always did.

Gold grabbed the nearest pacifier and popped it into Baby-Gold's gaping mouth. One arm supporting her whole length from beneath, the Dark One secured the pacifier with the opposing hand. He stood and fear blazed through Emma, but he began to swing the baby gently in a flat arc before him, oblivious. He did not notice the interloper, focused as he was in the sudden and welcome silence which followed Baby-Gold giving her first suck on the pacifier.

Baby-Gold opened her eyes and father and daughter stared at one another. He smiled.

Emma could not deny the warm feelings creeping in around her heart.

"Ok Belle, ready?" Belle's tears had eased and she nodded. He continued, "Remember, you have to guide her head so she doesn't just turn away at the last moment, I'll help you."

Belle held out her arms and Gold positioned his baby belly to belly with her mother. Only when they were in good alignment did he retrieve the pacifier and guide Belle's hand and Baby-Gold's head. Open, latch, suck. A dance.

Belle herself gasped and stiffened.

"I know, try to relax, it will get better." Gold murmured.

"How do you know?" Belle whispered plaintively. "I feel like such a bad parent, I can't even feed our daughter properly. I thought all of this was supposed to come naturally. No one talks about this part. All I can think about is how tired I am, how stressed and I'm sticky, dirty, I want a shower. I'm supposed to be focused on what a miracle she is and all I can think about is getting her fed so I can put her down and nap. I haven't slept in two weeks, Rumple!"

Tears slid down Belle's cheeks again.

"I'm right here with you and I always will be. You're doing just fine and this is going to get better." Gold, on his knees again, kissed her forehead and then chuckled, "No one just knows how to do this. Parenting is learning, all the time, forever." He leaned his forehead against hers still supporting the baby as she ate. "I love you Belle, no matter what."

"Me too. I mean, I'm so tired!" 

They both chuckled softly.

Emma felt a little hypoxic from holding her breath now that the noise of starving baby no longer concealed her presence. No chance of escape at this juncture. Awkward did not begin to cover it. She could not reconcile the lump in her throat either. She certainly was not thinking back on her own experience as Dark One and definitely did not wonder if the darkness still colored her every thought, mood and feeling.

How was he doing this? Gold did not look like the all powerful Dark One there on his knees helping his wife feed his baby. He looked like a father anyone would respect. In retrospect, Emma could see the darkness pushing her every decision and coiling around her mind like a black and sticky vine. But had her plans not felt rational at the time? Felt like the best alternative among a mire of awful choices? How was he not making a catastrophic mess like she had?

Was he in control? Could she have been if she had tried just a little harder? Was there any such thing as control? Emma wanted to barf over what she had done as a result of being the Dark One. All the time. How was he managing this?

"Have you thought of a name yet?" Gold slowly rose and came to sit beside her, thankfully facing away from where Emma lurked. Private moment alert. The image of she and Henry walking in on her parents flashed through her mind. Her stomach gave a lurch, but how to escape?

Belle smiled at him and then back down at the working jaw of their daughter. "Not after a dead person."

"Agreed!" Gold chuckled.

"And nothing weird or misspelled, or a boy's name. Ick!"

"I married a kind and compassionate woman. The baby name books from this land are appalling." He smirked, "Not anything even resembling the travesty my father saddled me with."

"Sensitive are we?"

"Don't tell me you wouldn't be in my place," he answered.

"Don't worry, Rumple, I am sure we'll find other ways to embarrass her later."

"I have no doubt."

Belle leaned on him a little, "Speaking of which, you never told me what Regina saddled you with for a first name during the curse."

"You'll never guess."

"Don't make me, I'm tired and hormonal."

He tucked a kiss into her hair, "Barbra, she named me Barbra."

"No wonder you went by Mister." Belle paused, "We're not naming the baby Barbra."

"Obviously. Not Mister, either." The two sat silently for a few moments and Emma regretted more every moment not finding an excuse to send Regina after Gold instead of letting panic drive her to haste. In no case could she escape this unscathed now. Interrupting was not in the cards either.

"I've been trying out Laura in my head for a few days, but I'd like to hear what you've been thinking." Belle offered.

"I like that." Gold met her eyes, "I'm afraid you'd not be able to take what I've been thinking on the subject seriously. Laura is a good choice."

"Rumple, I'd like to know. Whatever it is, it means something to you, so we should consider it together." How did Belle get to this kind of understanding with the Dark One? It seemed surreal to Emma. Gold always had an angle on everything, the ultimate puppeteer, how did Belle become more than just another deal?

"I look at her and I see you."

After a long silence, Belle encouraged, "Go on Rumple, you can tell me. You can tell me anything."

"When I hear her start to stir, I think-" Gold swallowed audibly, "I think to myself, my Belle needs me."

With a clear view of Belle's face, Emma didn't miss her eyebrows lifting and the watery smile that settled on Belle's weary features. A sigh: "Oh Rumple."

"I know, it would never work. You both can't be Belle, but I just can't shake it," Gold studied his fingers in front of him.

"Men do it all the time you know, name their sons after themselves," Belle grinned mischievously. "Laura Belle Gold."

Gold looked at her, "Laura-Belle?"

"Oh I love it. I doubt she'll go by both when she's an adult, or even when she starts school, but to us she'll always be our Laura-Belle."

Gold kissed Belle and Emma could not take her eyes away. She had never seen anything quite like that kiss, those twin tender expressions a perfect match for each other. True Love; it could not be denied or mistaken for anything else, even if a surge of pressured but contained magic had not been a dead give away. It was not a kiss about passion, but one of a deep and abiding understanding. When their lips relaxed away from each other, Gold rumbled, "It's settled then, Laura-Belle Gold. She may go through a phase of not liking the pet name, but she'll be able to put that on a resume without anyone pitying her."

Emma's sneeze went off like a mortar round. The frustrated magic had tickled her nose into betraying her. Two heads whipped toward her and two sets of brows lowered in censure.

"Henry's been writing. He says magic is leaking out of Storybrooke. He asked for your help, said it was an emergency!" Emma blustered.

"Miss Swan! Get the hell out of my shop. You were a disgrace as a Dark One and you're even worse now. I want you nowhere near my family, if you want to continue breathing. If you think I can't paste you, I will be happy to demonstrate. Right now." Gold's height may have been unimpressive but his stare and the magic he hosted to back it up compensated for any shortcomings he may have had.

"Henry asked for you!" Emma blurted, it sounded wheedling even to her own ears. "You barely acknowledge him and he's your only connection to Neal."

"Which is why I didn't want him going to the Underworld in the first place. I should sue for custody based on that alone. You invade our privacy, threaten and insult us, and still you expect me to drop everything to solve all your problems. Get the hell out, Miss Swan."

"But magic is-"

"I know." Gold's flat voice mocked her. "I've known that would happen eventually since the moment I brought magic here," he continued with a rolling gesture: "The fact that you have been practicing for years now and only noticed when your teenager told you what was happening under your nose astounds me. Your utter incompetence has reached new heights with this one, Swan, which is impressive, even for you." He sniffed derisively, "I'll be along to comfort young Henry when I am available to do so. Now get the hell out of my shop."

The pavement was cold and wet and hard under her bottom when she landed on it outside. From inside, the unhappy newborn Laura-Belle boisterously voiced her opinions afresh.

Emma blew her hair out of her face and picked herself up off the street, "That man needs to learn how to use a lock."

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Thanks for the Rumbelle is Hope campaign. OUAT isn't mine = not making any money, just having fun.


End file.
